TIME TO BOOK YOUR CONDO ON MARS ?

 Elon Musk has just declared that there will be one million humans living on Mars by 2045. Perfect timing, you will agree, because by then Trump would have digested Greenland, Panama, the Gaza Riviera, maybe even Canada, and would, like Alexander the Great, be shedding tears because by then there would  be no new real estate left for him to conquer on Earth. The resort on Mars would be called-what else?- Mars-a-Lago. One is not aware whether the Martians have been consulted on the little matter of forcible occupation of their planet, or whether they would be deported to Saturn, but we shall doubtless get to know shortly the next time Pete Eggshead, the Defence Secretary, leaks their classified chats on Telegram. But this inter stellar land grab raises other important questions.

                                     

 

How would this one million horde be selected ? It has been rumored that DOGE (aka DOUCHE) had considered setting up a Guantanamo Bay type of facility there for deporting illegal migrants. But someone pointed out that with 2.29 million potential Indian deportees, Mars could soon become a Khalistan or Hindu Rashtra, and so the idea was dropped. Instead, since Hamas refuses to play ball or catch-the-grenade in Gaza, the Jared Kushner idea of a new Riviera would be shifted to Mars and the world's billionaires invited to move to its unpolluted, land-mine free, unbombed environs, the fifty-second state of the USA.                        Considering the success of Trump's Gold Card offer (1000 were sold on the first day at one million dollars each, we learn) a similar model could be followed, with a ten million dollar price tag, perhaps. Since only SpaceX rockets would be used, Musk would get half of the revenues, with which he could shore up Tesla's plummeting share prices and pay the alimony to the additional half a dozen wives he would have acquired by then. Going by Space X's current record, about 40% of the space ships would blow up in space along with their occupants but there would be no refunds since space has neither any gravity nor any expiry date.

So, who would comprise this one million ? Not many Americans, I predict, because by then they would all have been reduced to penury under Trump's MABA ("Make America Broke Again") policy and would be unable to pay for the ticket. Putin and Netanyahu may want to go but could face arrest under the ICJ warrants when they land on Mars, so they are unlikely to apply. Many from the South Pacific- Tonga, Vanuatu, Fiji- would be interested since by then their islands would be drowning in the rising sea levels. Unfortunately, they wouldn't have enough sea-shells to pay for the tickets. But by far the biggest catchment area would be India, which by then would have a GDP of 35 trillion dollars, according to our Ministers, and about a thousand billionaires and a million Ultra-HNI's as a consequence of the Viksit Bharat programmes. Since roughly 40 % of our GDP is siphoned off to make these billionaires, and another 25% taken abroad by the thousands of millionaires who take foreign citizenship every year, there should be no shortage of applicants from India. Reason? There would be no ED, CBI, FCRA, Interpol or extradition rules on Mars, the only rule being "what you grab is what you get". There would also be no political parties or judges to "voluntarily" donate money to. I believe certain eminent absconders from Gujarat-where else?- have already sent feelers to Musk to check whether dhokla will be served on the flight. There should be a good chance of that, I should think, since the airport contract on Mars will probably be awarded to the Adani group once all Indian import duties are removed on Tesla in the national interest: Musk can make rockets but not dhokla, you see.

But one problem still has to be sorted out by the new Sheriff in town: who will Mars belong to? There exists an international treaty on the sharing of the Antarctic for research purposes, I learn, but none for Mars. So the USA will lay claim to it based on the oldest covenant of all: "Finder's Keepers." Plus, Trump is likely to demand the planet as compensation for America having been left out of the first wave of global colonisation in the 18th and 19th centuries when England, France, Portugal, Spain and Belgium had carved out the world amongst themselves like a Thanksgiving turkey. Well, that particular chicken has now come home to roost- on Mars. It's COLAnisation time again, folks!

Advance bookings for the condos, I believe, will begin on the day that Mr. Drumpf is sworn in as President for the third time, with Vice President Musketeer looking on. Looks like Gurgaon and DLF will finally get some competition.

BEYOND THE DIPLOMATESE - DARWIN WAS RIGHT , IT'S A JUNGLE OUT THERE.

 The generally received wisdom is that international affairs is so arcane a subject that it should be left to experts and diplomats to interpret. Which they usually do in language that no one understands. But even that is fine so long as we can make sense of the moves on the global chessboard. That is not, however, the case today, post-Trump, as we see the global order unravelling before our eyes, open licence being granted for slaughter of innocents, the legitimisation of a new era of colonisation and genocide. We would, therefore, be justified in feeling that the future of billions cannot be left to the mercy of diplomats, just as war cannot be left only to Generals for, as Shylock asked: "If you prick us, do we not bleed?" The world is bleeding now, and we, the common citizen, have every right to ask: What the hell is happening?

The world is now dominated, and dictated to, by three unscrupulous leaders; one has been convicted on 34 counts of felony and would have been in jail if only the American Democrats had played their cards better, the other two are alleged war criminals, accused of  crimes against humanity for whom arrest warrants have been issued by the ICC. They have now joined forces to carve out the world amongst themselves, in a macabre replay of the Yalta Conference of February 1945. But whereas Yalta marked the end of a period of violence and killing, this new meeting of minds marks the beginning of a period of renewed killings and oppression.

These three have completely upended the rules-based international order (RBO), which has more or less governed international relations since the UN came  into existence on 24th October, 1945. The use of the veto and military power has ensured that the RBO has been replaced by the law of the jungle- open annexation of sovereign territories, blatant genocide, forcible grabbing of mineral resources. Putin will be gifted Ukraine as the main course and can help himself to Eastern Europe and the Baltics as dessert, while Trump gets his Akhand America and Netanyahu swallows up most of the Middle-east. China will probably pocket Taiwan and all the islands within the nine dash line.

International cooperation, and the organisations meant to ensure this, are as good as dead. The United Nations has been put in moth-balls, for all the influence it has on the world now. It's just a debating club now, and not even in the same league as the Oxford Union Debating Society. It's impotence has been underlined by the fact that Israel- a member state- has banned the entry of the Secretary-General into the country, killed more than 200 of its staff, disallowed the functioning of its aid organisations like UNRWA in Gaza, attacked its schools, hospitals and refugee camps, and there's nothing that can be done about it. Working for UNRWA can now get one arrested and deported in the USA. The ICC arrest warrants and orders to end genocide in Gaza are not worth the paper they are written on- in fact, Netanyahu has now extended the genocide to the West Bank and the USA is issuing sanctions against the judges of the ICJ! The WTO is in a shambles with Trump imposing unilateral tariffs and other countries retaliating in similar fashion. The WHO is facing collapse with the USA backing out, ditto for any effective climate Accord as the world's largest polluter disassociates itself from climate change agreements and expands its fossil fuel extraction.. A huge sink hole has just opened up under the edifice of global cooperation.

Other portents are even more worrying for the future of mankind. We were all aware of a creeping right-wing, intolerant and authoritarian wave moving across nations, but now the Italian Prime Minister has proposed a confederation or alliance of right-wing rulers: Trump, Modi, the Argentinian President, Netanyahu and herself to begin with; no doubt the likes of Erdogan, Viktor Orban of Hungary, and other wanna-be strongmen will also be lining up to join this unholy gang. This can only spell more danger for a world where democracy has been in retreat since the late 1990's.

The world is in a more dangerous place today than it has ever been since 1948, with this powerful troika abandoning all principles of international law and the sovereignty of nations, crushing underfoot the hard fought-for values of human rights, negating agreements built over decades by  painstakingly achieved consensus, withdrawing from international organisations established to bring about cohesion and equal development, repudiating global covenants such as the Climate accords, intimidating other nations by the use of their military prowess. Even more alarming, their lawlessness and unpredictability  is forcing other countries like Japan, South Korea and Poland to consider acquiring nuclear capabilities to hedge their safety bets.

And where does India stand amidst all this chaos, I wonder? It appears to me that we stand for nothing- we are not what we are, we are what we are not. The traditional bedrocks of our foreign policy-the "Panchsheel" principles, support for the Palestinians, anti-colonialism, a nuanced neutrality, the values of liberal democracy- have all been jettisoned in favour of cronyism inspired GDP, the image of one man, and the desperate desire to sit at the high table of global politics. This is sought to be achieved by a supine surrender to the new Satan on the block, shameful abstentions in the United Nations, silence when our own citizens are shackled and humiliated, putting money over morals. This is all disguised as "neutrality" but is just strategic cowardice. And it's not working either: we have zero influence today over global affairs, we can no longer claim any leadership of the global South, we are isolated within BRICS, Trump doesn't give a tinker's curse for us, nobody knows what we stand for anymore notwithstanding a pulpit-thumping External Affairs Minister who sounds more and more like Mr. Micawber and Uriah Heep combined from the Dickens novels every day.

The "experts" will probably say that all this is very naive and simplistic, that what we are witnessing is unilateralism vs multilateralism, or a battle between liberal humanism and evolutionary humanism, or a tussle between Marxist socialism and neo-capitalism. But the truth is far more simple, as all great truths are. And the truth is that the blood thirsty phenomenon we are observing today is pure and simple Darwinism- the survival of the fittest. Which may have been acceptable 200,000 years ago when homo sapiens was still at the hunter-gatherer stage of our evolution, but not today after millenia of progress. Today it is evil, a threat to humanity itself which cannot be removed by armies or the law but only by the people themselves, the people who have birthed these mutants in the first place.

These are, as I said, dangerous times for all nations, but do we have the leadership that can navigate the country safely through these troubled waters? I don't know because right now it is busy in trashing a stand-up comic, demolishing houses, demonising live-in relationships, digging up mosques, figuring out more novel ways of winning elections, taking over Waqf boards and declaring more meat- free zones. World affairs can wait.

 

DOG- WALKERS AND THE FUTURE OF EMPLOYMENT

 

                      DOG-WALKERS AND THE FUTURE OF EMPLOYMENT

 

Sometime back the Union Minister for Labour and Employment, Shobha Karandjale, blamed the spread of education in the country for the high unemployment rate: we have far too many graduates, she added, in case you missed it the first time. This immediately caused a huge uproar on social media and various liberal groups, with someone even suggesting that we should now have an UNEDUCATION policy. Come to think of it, however, she was not far off the truth.

In India, everyone who cannot migrate illegally to Trumpland wants to become a graduate: the country produces ten million grads every year, most of whom (according to India Inc.) are unemployable. This is further borne out by a recent report that of 263 applicants (all lawyers and civil judges) who appeared for an exam for the post of District judges in Odisha, not one passed the qualifying test! Adding to the problem is that there are just not enough new jobs being created every year, even if we accept the govt’s cooked-up figures. Which is why, according to the ILO Report (2024) the rate of unemployment among graduates is ten times that of the uneducated: in India, the more educated you are the lesser the chances of your finding a job!

We refuse to accept the laws of either economics or mathematics, everyone wants a job as a babu in an office (hence the need to be a graduate), hands-on skills are looked down as undignified “labour”: the “knowledge worker” is placed high above the “skill worker.” Even though, while the former spend their days idling at home or attending political rallies, it is almost impossible to get hold of one of the latter when you need one- an electrician, carpenter, plumber, para-medic, driver, to mention just a few. Our cook, a smart young girl who chose to drop out after Plus Two and earn a respectable living rather than go to college and join the ranks of the unemployed, comes for two hours every day and charges Rs. 8000 per month. She works in four to five houses and makes Rs. 30000 to Rs. 40000 per month, something which even IIT grads are happy to receive these days! A mason in my village charges Rs. 1000 per day, if you can get hold of one, that is!

And things are about to get much worse for the grads and white collar workers with the advent of AI. The founder of Atomberg, Arindam Paul, predicts that 50-60 percent of white collar jobs could be lost to AI in the coming years in India and there would be no middle- class left. The infotech and hitech firms have already fired tens of thousands of their employees as a precursor to a much bigger bloodbath : the knowledge worker can be easily replaced by AI, whether he or she is a doctor, engineer, coder, data analyst, copy writer, advertising executive etc. AI softwares like Grok are making even doctors redundant. The skill or blue collar worker, on the other hand, is irreplaceable, whether on the factory floor, a mechanic's shop, your flat or selling momos on the street. These are the jobs and professions which will survive, as evidenced by the the innovative start-ups being launched every day. We have arrived in the era of innovative and niche-based job creations, and those who possess the entrepreneurial  spirit of exploring these options will be the winners. My housing society now provides well paying occupations which were unheard of even a decade ago- Dog Walkers (Rs.4000/ per house X 5 houses a day), Dog Groomers (Rs. 1000-1500 per doggie, almost the same Neerja pays for her monthly visits to Barbara's or Trois Ne), the Pigeon Net maker (Rs. 12000 for three balconies), and so on.

The smart guy will ferret out where demand for a product or service exists-and provide it, just like Swiggy, Amazon and Blinkit have done on a much larger scale.I came across a couple of unlikely occupations during the course of my readings, which I must share to prove how the job market is changing:

Sumadi Ibrahim served for 22 years as a Navy diver in Malaysia; since his retirement 10 years ago he has carved out a most unusual niche for himself: he retrieves lost golf balls from the water hazards of  golf courses outside Kuala Lumpur. He works three days a week, collects about 500 balls, and sells them to the same guys who lost them! He makes RM 8000 ringgit each month ( Rs. 1.60 lakhs), which is three times what a worker in the formal sector gets. Jim Best, an ex US Navy frogman, does the same on the Florida golf courses: he estimates that there are 70000 golf balls waiting to be found- a small fortune for entrepreneurs like him!

Demand has created a new breed of workers in China- "pei pas" or "climbing buddies", fit and athletic young men who assist outdoor tourists and enthusiasts in climbing or trekking up mountains, acting as guides and providing logistical and physical support. With millions of tourists opting for outdoor adventure, demand is booming. A climbing buddy charges between USD 50-70 per trip and can make upto USD 2000-3000 per month, far more than the average monthly wage for office workers. Good looking buddies can demand a higher price from single ladies or ladies' groups!

Another new class of professionals has now emerged- consulting declutterers. The inter-generational passing down of possessions- furniture, cluttery, mementos, clothes, books, photos- has become an issue: the younger generation now has smaller flats, believes in minimalist life styles, moves from place to place, and has no desire to clutter their lives. The "handing-down" older generation, on the other hand, values much of this stuff as family heirlooms and would like them to be retained for pure sentimental reasons. How to balance the two desires/needs? Enter the professional declutterer (at USD 125 per hour), who will talk to everyone, assess their emotional and physical needs, put a price on the items, advise on their disposal. He/ she is both a valuer and a psychological consultant.

As lifestyles change, as technology alters the way we once lived, and as new needs emerge, new areas for jobs are being created to replace the traditional white collar office jobs. Those who are innovative, possess unconventional skills and dare to be different are the ones who will prosper. As the Florida frogman told a reporter: " There's a job somewhere for everyone." He may as well have added: "Provided they're willing to shed their white collars."

19.03.2025

 

A NEW SHERIFF IN TOWN.

 " There's a new Sheriff in town," was what the newly minted TD Vance, Vice President of the USA, informed Europe in his typical hillbilly way on his first visit there. He was, presumably, referring to Trump and not to the federal marshal, Musk, who appears to be riding shotgun for the former as the American prairie schooner rides rough-shod over what's left of the rules-based global order. But this piece is not about American sheriffs- it's about the new sheriff that has just arrived in India.

It's name is Grok, Grok 3 to be precise, which has just been released by Elon Musk and  is instilling more fear among India's powerful than Wyatt Earp and Doc Halliday ever did in the Wild West, to continue with the frontier imagery. In just a week of its launch it has had the hombres and rats running for cover, and forced Amit Malviya to observe a "maun vrat" while he tries to figure out how to make his untruths Grok- proof. It's not hard to figure out why.

For any near-totalitarian state the main tool to control the population is not the police, it's disinformation- fake news, witholding of information and official data, capturing the media to disseminate only propaganda, build narratives based on lies, distort history. This has worked very well for the ruling party in India so far, for there are now very few channels of authentic news left, and the govt's official data (unemployment, household consumption, census, deforestation, inequality, poverty, electoral data) is either suppressed, distorted or outright denied. The voter has no choice but to rely on whatever is manufactured by govt. agencies.

Not any more, for the new sheriff in town is changing the rules of the game, albeit in a much more democratic and kosher way than Sheriff Trump. In just a few days, in response to questions put to it, Grok has thoroughly exposed and contradicted the narratives we have been fed on for the last ten years. It has told us, for example, that there is no evidence that Mr. Modi (or Mrs. Irani) have a degree, that it was Muslims and not the RSS that participated in our freedom struggle, that Mrs. Sonia Gandhi was never a bar dancer, that Arnab Goswami and Sudhir Choudhry are the top sycophants among the godi media anchors, that Rahul Gandhi has held 43 press conferences compared to Mr. Modi's 1, that Nehru donated Rs. 196 crores of his personal wealth (current value Rs. 49000 crore) to the country in 1946, that when he became UP Chief Minister in 2017 Yogi Adithyanath had 28 criminal cases registered against him, all of which he withdrew. The country's sold-out media would never have shared these gems with us.

No wonder the rats are bolting into their holes. For the credibility of Grok cannot be questioned: its responses are based on archival data from across a multitude of sources-left, right and center-, it has no ideology, its algorithms have no political leanings, it relies on hard data and not presumptions or manufactured  narratives. The ruling party and its right wing acolytes cannot even accuse it of bias, for does it not belong to the friend of our Prime Minister's buddy Doland? Irony just died a thousand deaths here.

As access to Grok multiplies, and as social media and Youtubers become more aware of the possibilities, expect a torrent of authentic, hitherto concealed information and data to flood our information universe, with more and more exposures of the disinformation blanket thrown over the country these last few years. This can only make for a more open society, a better informed citizenry, and a more responsive government. But I am more excited than the average Joe (it takes a lot to excite me these days) for I visualise a limitless potential for this magical AI tool.

Take, for instance, the RTI apparatus which has been almost completely disembowelled by the govt. Grok has the potential to replace our RTI Commissions to some extent because it will unearth and mine information from millions of disparate sources on any subject/ question in a nano second, which your PIO cannot or does not want to do. Even better, can we hope that some day Grok will replace our lumbering courts with their 50 million pending cases, their judgments increasingly based on preferential expectations and majoritarian ideology, their benches staffed by indifferent practitioners of law, accused waiting for years for a judge's pleasure just to get bail, forget about a trial ? Can you imagine a judicial system where there are no lawyers, no judges, no pendency? Just feed the facts of a case (civil or criminal), the evidence, the pleadings, previous case law into the algorithms of Grok- and hey Presto!- you have a judgment in minutes! Based on law and merits, which is becoming a rarity these days. I don't know about Donald Trump or Mr. Modi or Justice Chandrachud, but Solomon would certainly have approved of this. And oh! Umar Khalid too.

[Also published in The Tribune of 23rd March 2025]

ARE BANKERS DRIVING YOU BONKERS?

                             ARE  BANKERS  DRIVING  YOU  BONKERS ?

Unlike our Prime Minister or Mr. Narayan Murthy, I do not labour for 18 hours a day; in fact, I don't labour at all- having toiled for 35 years I have now left it to others to clear out the mess I've created during that period. But this doesn't mean I don't put in many productive hours every day- for, as the L+T Chairman never said: "they also serve who only stand and stare." Deleting the hours I spend in sleeping, and staring at Neerja, I do work for about four hours every day at my office table which I picked up at a Delhi "chor bazaar" just before someone nicked my wallet. But- and here's my grouse and the trigger for this piece- about 2 of these hours is spent sorting out issues with my banks.

This constitutes my daily nightmare, of the digital kind. All banks have now gone online and that has its advantages, especially in the matter of withdrawing cash through ATMs, making payments, opening FDs etc. through net-banking. Beyond these, however, if you have an issue like change of phone number or address, or a suspect credit or debit, or closing an account, and need to contact the bank or its manager, or do a KYC, then you need to gird up your loins, prepare for a few frustrating weeks and long for the old days when you could drop it at the branch to have a cup of tea with the BM while your issue was sorted out in a cordial manner. Not any more. These days you have to deal with an anonymous, faceless, algorithmic monster called Customer Service, a legal fiction which you are led to believe exists (like God) but actually doesn't (again, like God).

I have accounts in four banks, having decided to spread the risks when they start collapsing whenever Mr. Adani decides to buy Cyprus or St. Kitts and move there with his trillions. But, since it's now quite clear that he is happy to stay in India and buy this country instead, I decided to close two of these accounts before dementia catches up with me and I forget about all of them. I've been waging a battle with one of these banks for the last month to close one account. A Speed post letter to the Branch Manager has elicited no acknowledgement-I suspect he is also a legal fiction and doesn't exist. Six emails to Customer Service ("we value our relationship with you") have elicited six identical responses saying it can't be done online and that I should visit the branch with as many papers as I carried to my UPSC interview 50 years ago. I pointed out that I am a senior citizen and should not be expected to physically go to the Branch which is twenty kilometers away: no response from the bot at the other end, but I thought I could hear a snicker from the Bank's URL. The account is still not closed: I think I shall bequeath it in my Will to someone I detest, preferably a "bhakt" or some dandy from St. Stephens College (do I need to tell you that I'm from Hindu College?)

There are other missiles in the armoury of Customer Service which they unleash in the whee! hours of the night. One morning you'll be suddenly informed that your basic savings account has been upgraded to Burgundy or Platinum or Super Value, which requires you to maintain a few lakhs in your account at all times, on pain of penalty charges. In return, you will get your own Relationship Manager, free access to an Indigo airport lounge and a discount on meals at a five star restaurant. I've tried telling them that Neerja manages my  relationships, and does a pretty good job at nurturing and terminating them too, if she is so inclined; that I wouldn't fly even if God gave me wings and the rank of Air Chief Marshal; that it makes no sense to have a biryani in a hotel where Ms Sitharaman takes 28% of the food off the plate even before I've had the first bite and Service Charge takes 15% of what's left. But he algorithms are designed not to take NO for an answer and I didn't get far with this line of reasoning.

And then there is the bane of our digital lives- the KYC. Every once in a while we are asked to re-verify our mug shots, finger prints, addresses and telephone numbers. The public sector banks, those remnants of the dinosaurs, insist that you physically visit their branches to do so, even if you are on the International Space Station with Sunita Williams. (Incidentally, you now have to do this also for your FastTag, gas connection, insurance policies, mutual funds, land holdings, electricity connection, etc.) It doesn't matter a whit that you've had an account with the bank for 40 years, or that it's a pension account verified by the AG himself, or that you've never, ever, defaulted on a loan or a credit card payment, or ever had any dealings with Suresh the Con-man, or Mallya or Choksi or Nirav Modi. While people like these gentlemen are siphoning off thousands of crores from the banks, we cannot touch our own moneys. KYC it has to be, or start begging at the Khan Market red light for your daily bread.

One can't help but feel that we are rushing too fast into wholesale digitalisation without adequately preparing our personnel, processes and culture for it, just like Mr. Gadkari with his express-ways and Ms Sitharaman with her GST. Sometimes one longs for the older ways. I recollect my dad, after retirement in Kanpur, used to visit his bank branch  two or three times every week, have a gossip session with the BM, get tips on investments, cash a cheque or two over tea and aloo ki tikkis and return home a satisfied customer. He died of old age, not the effects of dealing with Customer Service and Digital India. Me, I'll probably die of an embolism caused by a Customer Service algorithm.

I'm considering closing all my bank accounts, withdrawing the funds and going into partnership with my village money lender; he's promised me an annual return of 8% (no TDS, of course), which is more than what these banks give. Problem is, he wants me to do a KYC too!

[ This blog was published by the TRIBUNE]

THE DISNEYFICATION OF RELIGION

 

THE DISNEYFICATION OF RELIGION

 

Marx missed the full picture when he described religion as an opiate of the masses. so did George Carlin when he  claimed that God was a fiction. For today Neo-Capitalism and right-wing fundamentalism have assigned God a new role and turned Him into an FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Good): far from being an opiate He is now a stimulant for consumption on a gigantic scale, the driver for GDP and GST growth. If, along the Laffer curve, a few consumers die in a stampede or fire, that is acceptable collateral damage, a tax write-off where the public picks up the bill while the high priests of Mammon go chuckling to the Bank. The on-going Maha Kumbh, which the U.P. government claims will add Rs. 2 lakh crores to the state's GDP, is the apotheosis of this new divine role.

The Hindu religion being one of the main pillars of the BJP's very existence and power-play, it has to be constantly glorified, burnished and made larger than life. As Yuval Noah Harari asserts, a religion is not just its deities but also the social functions it performs. The BJP's aim is to ensure that one of these "social functions" is the legitimising and consolidation of its power and narrow world-view. Given these high stakes, Hinduism can no longer be left to the tender mercies of the Shankaracharyas, Mahamandeleshwars, priests, purohits or the humble devotee and pilgrim in the villages. It must be ornamentalised, over hyped and aggrandised, made a television spectacle, a platform for projecting the party and the Prime Minister as its prime custodian. This is a continuation of a medieval mindset we thought the modern world had left behind: did not the emperors and kings of that time build cathedrals, pyramids, gigantic statues, temples and monuments to perpetuate their own myths, dogmas and personalities, to remain in the public eye and memory? Were kings and Pharohs not considered embodiments of the divine power? Religion may be a fiction, so it has to be dressed up, for the grander the fiction the easier it is to get the public to swallow it.

It is in this backdrop that we must understand this government's hostile takeover of the religion, and its obsession with the Disneyfication of our religious places and the conversion of all major Hindu festivals into  Cecil de Mille type of Hollywood productions. A few recent instances will help to establish this point:

* The inauguration of the new Parliament building on 28th May 2023 was done with all the splendour of a Roman coronation, complete with the sengol substituting for a scepter and procession of high priests. A secular political function was transformed into a religious one.

* The consecration of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, built at a reported cost of Rs. 1800, crore was an even grander event, the tempo having been built up for weeks before, like some gladiatorial show at the Colosseum.

* The Kashi Vishwanath corridor, which will cost Rs. 800 crores when all its phases are complete, was hyped up as the rebirth of Varanasi, another re-affirmation of a resurgent Hinduism; the destruction of hundred of houses and private temples to make way for the corridors was, of course, acceptable collateral damage.

* The Char Dham Highway, ripping through the heart of the Himalayas and built against all environmental considerations, is again an emblem of religious revivalism, even though it is rationalised on strategic defence grounds. It will cost about Rs. 12000 crores and is already causing irreversible damage to the mountains.

* A dedicated and wholly unnecessary highway is being built for the Kanwariyas in U.P. at a cost of Rs. 650  crores and a reported 33000 trees, once again to project the religion in a larger than life format and to milk religious sentiments.

* The exaggerated claims of the Mahakumbh, its deafening publicity and non-stop 24X7 media coverage, the Guinness scale of infrastructure created at a reported cost of Rs. 7000 crore (and Rs. 5000 crore by the Railways) is again meant to amplify the same message.

It's the same with festivals. The Kumbh has been celebrated since time immemorial, every decade or so, but the frenzy created around it this year is unprecedented, with even Blinkit home- delivering sangam water, virtual dips being offered online, and someone else taking a dip on your behalf at the sangam for a nominal charge! I have lived in Delhi for fifty years but have never witnessed things like Ganesh Chaturthi, the Chhat Pooja or the Kanwariya Yatras being magnified to the kind of spectacles we witness nowadays. This resurgence of a placid faith is clearly contrived, funded and Disneyfied with a purpose.

Somewhere along the way, the spiritual and ascetic in Hinduism has been replaced with the commercial and extravagant, to serve the "function" of a political party. Which should not surprise anyone, because religion has always been a business and tool for power. As Prof. Paul Seabright says in his extraordinary book, The Divine Economy, the divine science (religion) has always had a large element of the dismal science (economics) mixed with it. It offers a product (salvation), has a network of providers (priests) and well established distribution channels. There are many "products" in the market (Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism etc.) and they all compete with each other for market share.

It should not surprise anyone, therefore, that the corporatisation of Hinduism now has a righteous , if not liturgical, angle to it, to serve a political purpose. It has become a bustling share market where the common investor gets his returns in divine indulgence, and the new corporates get theirs in votes. And those who do not buy into this stock market are the new kafirs. Nietzsche had famously said that God is dead. He was wrong- God has now been repositioned as a marketable product.

[ This blog was published in the TRIBUNE on 2.3.2025 under the title REPOSITIONING GOD AS A MARKETABLE PRODUCT.]

THE NEW THREAT FOR HIMACHAL'S RIVERS

                               

                                        [ This blog was published in THE TRIBUNE ]

THE  NEW  THREAT  FOR  HIMACHAL'S  RIVERS

Himachal's beautiful and priceless rivers are facing a new threat in their ongoing battle against "development". First it was the roads hacked out in their valleys, dumping tens of millions of tonnes of earth and debris into their waters, constricting their flows and  devastating aquatic life. Then came the hydel projects, extinguishing whatever little aquatic life was left, drying up the waters, and causing floods downstream. Now there's a new threat, ironically, the very sector and activity they nurture- Tourism.

As tourism expands into the remote interiors of the state under the indulgent and sightless gaze of the state government, its tentacles are snaking their way up the river valleys, bringing with them the same mercenary ruthlessness that has destroyed the state's urban centers. Haphazard constructions- hotels, homestays, guest houses, dhabas, workshops- are coming up all along these rivers, sometimes even on the river beds and their flood plains, obscuring the lovely views of rivers, dumping muck in them, discharging their sewage directly into the flowing waters, narrowing their channels. There are very few rivers left that are relatively undisturbed by this ravaging; having travelled (on foot) to practically all of them, I can count and name them on one hand- the Tirthan, Pubber, Uhl, Baspa, Chandrabhaga, Parvati (above Pulga), Rupen. Unless the government-particularly the departments of Forest, Town and Country Planning, Fisheries, Deputy Commissioners, Tourism- wakes up urgently the days of these rivers are numbered.

The Tirthan in Kullu district is perhaps the last of the relatively untouched rivers, because most of its course lies in the Great Himalayan National Park; it is also the final bastion of the endangered free roaming rainbow trout. Sadly, however, it has been discovered by Tourism and dozens of hotels and homestays have started springing up along its length below Gushaini, most of them "benami". A picture of a typical construction that is going on there even as I write this is given below, sent to me by some friends there:

                         

                 [ Construction of a hotel on the bed of the Tirthan river in Kullu district]

This massive construction (it's a hotel) has occupied almost two thirds of the width of the river bed, leaving just a narrow channel for the river to squeeze through. The problems it presents are obvious to all, except perhaps the government agencies who are supposed to prevent this: the obstruction caused by the structure will alter the course of the river, deflecting the water to the opposite bank and eroding it and washing away the orchards clearly visible in the photo.; any flood in the river will pose  a grave danger to this building and its residents; the entire sewage and grey water from this building has no other way to go but to be discharged into the Tirthan, no matter what its owners may say: the building is fifty below the road level and the sewage can only go down, not up. It doesn't matter if the construction is on private land- it is on the river bed, interferes with the flow of the river which should have the first right of way, will cause pollution in a river the locals consider as holy as the Ganga, and poses a threat to life. The locals have been protesting against this ongoing construction, and four panchayats of Banjar have passed a resolution asking for the work to be stopped but as usual, money and influence talks louder because the work continues, with redoubled vigour!

How are these types of constructions being allowed to come up? Is it even legal under the stringent land ownership laws of the state, debarring outsiders from owning land here? Has it obtained TCP and Pollution Control Board approvals, and if so, how were these granted in the face of the obvious implications on safety and the environment? The Deputy Commissioner Kullu and concerned departments need to address these questions. (I learn that a temporary stay had been issued by the Forest department now, but that is now vacated).

Similar constructions are happening along all the rivers. After the floods of 2022-23 the government has taken some decisions about banning constructions on the flood plains of the Beas. This is not enough. Similar action should be taken for all the rivers in the state, at least the ones mentioned above, which are under grave threat. Any type of construction (regardless of land ownership) should be prohibited within at least 50 meters of the river bank, or upto its HFL (High Flood Level). It is imperative that an Eco-Zone be declared along the entire length of these rivers under the Environmental Protection Act, on the pattern of National Parks. Before granting approvals a thorough scrutiny should be made of the land title to rule out "benami" deals. It is common knowledge that this is rampant in the Tirthan valley.

Himachal's rivers are its most precious assets, especially given the prospect of the looming water shortages in the coming decades. They should not be destroyed for commercial profits and political rent seeking.

IT'S NOW OFFICIAL-- WE ARE A NATION OF PARASITES

 A long, long time ago when people still read books and were not educated exclusively by Whatsapp forwards or Tik-Tok reels, Nirad Choudhry, the last Englishman in India, claimed in his book of the same name that India was a continent of Circe, where humans were turned into beasts. Now, 70 years later, he has been vindicated by no less an authority than the Supreme Court of India itself. In a recent judgment a bench of the Court termed the under privileged and poor of the country (there are 230 million of them, and 800 million get free rations) as "parasites", thereby improving upon Nirad Babu's formulation of mere beasts. It said, in effect, that the poor, the jobless, the homeless, the landless- the most vulnerable and helpless sections of our 1400 million people- were unjustly consuming the resources of the state through subsidies, doles and "freebees" and implicitly castigated them for their sorry fate. "Are we not creating a class of parasites?" it asked, going on to lament that "they are getting free rations without doing any work!" A demonstration of empathy not seen since the times of Nero.

The Court, in its zeal to sound both learned and neo-liberal, has unwittingly provided its imprimatur and endorsement to the insensitive, cold hearted and callous attitude of the present government to the ordinary citizen of the country, whose fate it is to be counted at election time and then to be consigned to the dungeons of oblivion. Public suffering, hardship and grievances does not matter to it so long as it continues winning elections. This has been amply demonstrated in the last ten years on numerous occasions when the government has not batted an eyelid to provide relief or redress wrongs, or to even display some compassion: the interminable queues at banks and ATMs, in the rain and cold, during the disaster of demonetisation; the year long protest of farmers resulting in more than 600 deaths, the ill-conceived and sadistic Covid lockdown forcing millions of the urban poor to WALK back to their distant villages in the searing heat, being de-contaminated and beaten by police on the way; the messed up Covid policies resulting in more than 40 lakh deaths according to WHO and international observers, the hundreds of corpses floating in the Ganga, the dead in the Kumbh hyper marketing. Even as I write this the Railways are herding Mahakumbh pilgrims into trains like sardines, 5000 in a train meant for 1200, simply so that Mr. Vaishnaw, the Railway Minister can notch up a few records like his Chief Ministerial colleague in Uttar Pradesh. The fact that people are dying in this pursuit of Guinness records and brownie points from an uncaring Prime Minister is, of course, of no concern. For aren't these pesky people parasites who deserve nothing better?

 The Hon'ble court would do well to realise that mere obiter dicta of this type only dehumanises people and brutalises an already brutal government. A solution needs a deeper understanding of the origins of the problem. If people do not work it is because there are no jobs for them. If they need free rations it is because they do not have the money to buy them, if they are homeless it is because millions have to forcibly migrate to cities for employment. The Court would have done well to reflect on where these hundreds of millions of "parasites" came from. For they did not have an immaculate conception, my lords, but were birthed by consistently unwise, avaricious and exploitative policies of past and present governments. They are not poor out of choice, or dependent on governments because they are lazy, but because they have been reduced to this state by governments they have elected over the years, by policies that have consistently favoured just the top ten percent of the population. Consider some of them:

* More than 50 million people have been displaced by projects- dams, cement plants, power projects, urbanisation, highways, mines, airports.  Rarely do these projects improve their lives, for the benefits flow to cities, industrialists and politicians. They are not parasites, they are internally displaced persons, refugees in their own country.

* The destruction and denudation of the environment which accompanies these projects has immense adverse impacts on the livelihoods of the rural population, forcing more and more to migrate to urban areas. This is particularly true of the Himalayan and sub-Himalayan states. Just the havoc of reckless dam building has displaced 16 million people.

* The worst effected are the category who most need the state's help- tribals, forest dependent communities, and indigenous people. In an article by Roshan Varughese and Soumen Mukherjee in the journal Nature.com (23.5.24), 40% of the victims of development induced displacement are Adivasis, even though their share of the population is only 8%. Thousands are being evicted on an almost daily basis because of state governments' unwillingness to implement the Forest Rights Act: only 3 states have implemented its provisions, but that too only partially.

* Short-sighted, compliance based, propaganda oriented policies are being rammed through a system where its stakeholders are unprepared to navigate their rules. A prime example is the ubiquitous and pernicious tyranny of the KYC process for banks, ration cards and MNREGA. This is a nightmare for even the digitally aware, but for the uneducated poor it has become a matter of survival and a cause of destitution. According to a report by the NGO Lib-Tech, more than 80 million workers were removed from MNREGA rolls in just two years, 2022-24, because of KYC issues. A Down to Earth magazine report of 28th October 2024 quotes a study carried out in two districts of Jharkhand (Latehar and Lohardaga) which revealed that bank accounts of 60% of the families had been frozen for want of completed KYC verification, depriving them access to whatever little money they had, MNREGA wages and Direct Benefit transfers, leaving them at the point of starvation. Similarly, millions of the poor are being denied ration under the PDS because they are unable to complete their KYC. It has been reported that 7 million and 6.9 million beneficiaries in Odisha and Tamil Nadu, respectively, have had their cards frozen for want of KYC verification.

* Not only has the present government failed to create new jobs in adequate numbers, it has destroyed millions of existing jobs through demonetisation, GST and neglect of the SME (Small and Medium Enterprises) sector. Employment, under-employment and disguised unemployment are at their highest levels in 45 years, even as 12 million new job seekers enter the market every year. Who do the poor turn to if there are no jobs for them? And how do they eat if they get no wages?

* We may tom-tom that we are the fifth or fourth largest economy in the world but that offers no succor to the poor, for we rank 140 in per-capita income, below Bangladesh. In a shocking analysis of Household consumption data, T. Muralidharan in an article in Telengana Today (Nov. 13, 2024) has revealed that the bottom 30% of our population ( 420 million people) spend just Rs. 50 on food per day per capita, whereas a vegetarian thali costs more than Rs. 50 (Economic Survey 2020). Worse, the poorest 5% of the country lives on just 2/3 rds of a thali per day!

One is left wondering if the Hon'ble court had informed itself of these facts before terming these unfortunates as parasites. Quick-fixes are okay for joining shards of broken Dresden pottery, but will not repair the broken edifice of a nation's conscience or a government's splintered feeling of compassion, or faulty neo capitalist policies. Judicial quick-fixes are particularly dangerous for they impart a legal legitimacy to half baked ideas. Yes, there are plenty of undeserving people benefitting from these welfare schemes and they should be weeded out. The court would have rendered yeoman's service to the nation if it had focused on this aspect and directed the government to prepare a time bound plan to do so, instead of using a broad brush to castigate and condemn the poor. We have robbed the country's poor of their lands, jobs, food and health; let us not strip them of their right to be called human beings. It is all they have left.

AAP IS ALIVE AND KICKING--IT'S THE ALLIANCE WHICH IS ON (CONGRESS) ASSISTED DYING

 Yes, Kejriwal has lost the Delhi elections. But make no mistake- the AAP put up a valiant and courageous fight, and came to within inches of winning. Don't let these sold out media platforms and sundry Yogendra Yadav clones tell you otherwise, look at the official figures. The BJP at 46% of the vote share was only 2% ahead of AAP at 44%- it is the oddity of the first-past-the-post system that converted this into a 26 seat lead for God's Own Party. In a proportionate system both the parties would have been tied at 35 seats apiece. By no means has the AAP been "wiped out", as some commentators and bhakts would have you believe: in Delhi AAP remains a potent force which can still take the fight to the BJP over the next five years. Don't look at the size of the dog in the fight, look at the size of the fight in the dog.

Nobody in his right senses expected the AAP to win, the odds against it were overwhelming- relentless persecution by the Center over the last five years, jailing of all its top leaders on trumped up charges unsubstantiated by any evidence even after three years of arrests, raids and investigations, blatant sniping and sabotaging by the Lieutenant Governor, blocking of all its popular schemes on one pretext or the other, a partisan police force, a defiant bureaucracy with loyalties to the Center rather than the elected government of the state, an Election Commission which is now a player in the game rather than an umpire, the deletion and injection of thousands of dubious votes before the elections, a somnolent judiciary which has failed to curb the executive or deliver timely justice, a Corporate India rooting for the BJP in the hope of churning out more billionaires, an announcement of major tax breaks just four days before polling in a condemnable violation of the model code of conduct.

And yet, it is testament to the resilience of the AAP that it almost won. For the first time in any state the BJP was forced to modify its electoral strategy, as Harish Khare has pointed out in an article: the BJP was compelled to soft pedal its communal tool- kit and adopt a leaf out of Kejriwal's welfare book. No other political party could have come even close to matching AAP's performance. Certainly not the Congress with its recent track record of being annihilated in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhatisgarh and Haryana.

That being said, one hopes that Kejriwal and his advisors are also doing some deep reflection and soul-searching. For their mistakes too are many: a will o' the wisp ideological opportunism, embracing of a copy-cat "soft" Hindutva, keeping silent on Muslim persecution at Shaheen Bagh and the NE Delhi riots, uncalled for hounding of Rohingya refugees, excessive welfarism at the cost of Delhi's crumbling infrastructure. These have contributed to the 9% away swing of its vote share, but they are not the prime reason for its loss. The death blow was delivered by its Alliance partner, the Congress.

One  hopes that the Congress will also do some introspection, once they are finished gloating over Kejriwal's "downfall." For it is this, now largely irrelevant party, which ensured the AAP's defeat. Figures now released by the ECI show that in 14 constituencies the Congress candidates polled more votes than the BJP candidates' winning margin, thus ensuring the latter's win; these include seats contested by Kejriwal, Sisodia, Somnath Bharti and Saurabh Bharadwaj. Rahul Gandhi (or the coterie of sleeper cells around him) have extracted their "revenge" even though the party got just 6% of the votes, did not win a single seat, and 67 of their candidates lost even their deposits! At the rate this party continues to cut off its nose to spite its face in every election, it will soon have no nose left, just a void where it will bury a hundred years of its history and achievements.

Congress apologists have been defending its contesting against AAP in Delhi by pointing out that this is exactly what the latter did to the Congress in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Himachal, but this analogy is faulty. For in none of these states was the Congress, or any Alliance partner, the ruling party at the time of the elections, both parties were fighting against the BJP. But in Delhi the Congress was fighting against an Alliance partner and trying to dislodge one of its own. It did not have a claim to even a single seat in Delhi given its miserable 4% vote share and performance in the last ten years. And yet, for reasons that can only be attributed to a sense of entitled egotism and the thirst for revenge, it decided that "na jeetunga, na jeetne doonga."

The Congress has now become a spoiler at the national level, a clear and present danger to the restoration of democracy in India. It cannot forget its grand past and refuses to accept that it is no longer a "national party" at the state level- the brutal truth is that it is now just another regional party in a couple of states. It will not play second fiddle to any other regional party and refuses to abide by an unwritten Alliance Dharma. For the sake of the nation it must be persuaded to abandon its delusions of grandeur, to accept reality and to recognise that its first priority has to be to fight the BJP, not its allies.

The Delhi model of governance that AAP offered as an alternative to the Gujarat model worked, as two successive massive wins by the AAP proved. For the first time in our history an alternate model of politics was offered in Delhi, one based on concern for the under privileged, "life-line" services as a right, unsupported by money bags and corporates, without any communal agenda, all actively propagated by a cadre of educated, committed and idealistic workers and volunteers. This was the anti-thesis of all that the BJP stands for, and could not be allowed to succeed. The ruling party has achieved its demolition objective, and Kejriwal has to share part of the blame for this, as pointed out in earlier paras. He must now course correct, go back to the party's original drawing board, seek out saner counsel and advisors and remain true to the original vision with which his party was founded. The coming days will not be easy for him for all the dogs of war will be set loose on him and his leaders. AAP has to rediscover the gritty resilience which had brought it to power in the first place- it still has the support of the electorate (it's core vote of 44% is more than the BJP's 38%) but it has to rebuild its ideological foundations. It has to stand for something positive and unambiguous, not be all things to all people or have a negative or equivocal ideology.

 The Congress must realise that the voter must be given a binary choice only. Or else, by 2029 there will be no party left to do any fighting, and nothing worth fighting for.

BOOK REVIEW - ANANDA: AN EXPLORATION OF CANNABIS IN INDIA

                     

                             

                     [This review was published in The Tribune on 12th Jan. 2025]

BOOK REVIEW- "ANANDA- AN EXPLORATION OF CANNABIS IN INDIA" by Karan Madhok.

                                                    ON  THE  CANNABIS  TRAIL

This is a rather unusual book, grafted on the back of the author's travels in elevent states in pursuit of his research on the cannabis plant and its derivatives- ganja, hemp, bhang, hashish and charas. Most of us have a nodding, if not sniffing, acquaintance with cannabis but know little about its botanical structure, origins, history, economics, legality, religious connection or medicinal value. Karan Madhok has dug deep to educate us on these aspects, but in a manner which is personal, anecdotal and sometimes humorous. 

We learn that the main psychoactive ingredient in cannabis is a chemical called THC, and the higher the THC the more potent the drug. The plant consists of the stem and the flower, it is the latter that contains the highest concentration of THC, from which the hashish and charas are produced, and hence banned in India. The stem has a very low level of the chemical, from which bhang and ganja and hemp are derived and these are legal. The hemp is used for making ropes, baskets, footwear, clothing etc. and is an important part of the economy of the Himalayan villages such as Malana in Himachal, whose Malana Cream is acknowledged to be among the finest in the world. There are also the Idukki Gold of Kerala, Sheelavathi of Odisha and Koraput Purple of the Andhra-Odisha border. Whether in its potent or weaker form, cannabis has been used for centuries for medicine, recreation, nutrition, and has a deep connection with religion.

The United Nations estimates that 4.3% of adults consume cannabis, it is the most widely used, cultivated and trafficked illicit substance in the world. But states are ramping up the pressure to legalise controlled cultivation of cannabis for medicinal, scientific and industrial purposes and to amend the NDPS Act. Uttarakhand has already done this to some extent and Himachal too has passed a resolution to this effect in September this year. Such a measure could revolutionise the economies of these states and create huge employment opportunities in agriculture, processing and transportation sectors.

Supported by statistics and independent studies, the author raises a pertinent point: is the state justified in spending humungous amounts of financial, administrative and judicial resources in enforcing the NDPS Act on drugs like cannabis? Is this even serving any purpose? The kingpins of the drug cartels are never caught, it is only the "foot soldiers"- the impoverished farmer, the carrier, the middleman- who are convicted and imprisoned. The Act gives the police and other agencies a blank cheque to harass and extort money (as in the Aryan Khan case) and breeds corruption. The draconian prohibition of these milder and organic drugs is driving the youth to harder, more dangerous, chemical formulations; (the author points to the epidemic of the synthetic opioid fentanyl, which is reportedly responsible for two thirds of drug related deaths in the USA and is now the leading cause of death for Americans aged eighteen to forty nine). And finally, he argues, this harsh policy is also depriving the state of billions of dollars of revenue, and denying livelihood opportunities to the poorest farmers in the most backward, forested and hilly areas where the plant thrives. We should learn from the USA where half the states have already legalised cannabis, and a state like California earns about US$ 6 billion (Rs. 50000 crore) annually by licensing its use and consumption. 

For me the most interesting part of the book is where the author details the connection between ganja/ bhang and India's syncretic culture and religion. For, as he puts it brilliantly, "much like the Indian constitution, cannabis is secular" and representative of the "Ganga-Jamuna Tehzeeb."

Religion: cannabis is associated with all major religions of India- it is extolled by Persian poets as a "heavenly guide", considered by some Muslim sects as the embodiment of the spirit of the prophet Khidr in whose honour the Sufis consume it; in Tantric Buddhism it is extolled for its medicinal powers; the Sikh Nihangs refer to it as Sukha prasad and it is consumed during the Hola Mohalla festivities (even though Guru Nanak is supposed to have opposed its consumption). It is almost at the core of Hinduism, associated with practically all its major Gods- Shiva, Vishnu, Krishna, Balrama, Hanuman, Jagannath in one way or the other, and its festivals-Holi, Khumb, Shivratri, Vijaya Dasmi, Trinath Puja. It is offered to the Gods, or consumed in many forms, at many major temples across the breadth of the country.

Food: bhang is to be found in many of the favourite dishes/drinks in many states- ice-cream, laddoos, gajar ka halwa, suji ka halwa, Christmas plum pudding, pakoras, panipuri, rosogolla, majaun (a confection enjoyed by Babur).

Bollywood: the Zeenat Aman song "Dum Maro Dum" in the film Hare Rama Hare Krishna (1973) has become the cannabis anthem for the nation,  defining the nous of a whole generation. Since then the association has stuck with the Hindi film industry, for better or worse, through Aap Ki Kasam (Rajesh Khanna, 1974), Silsila (Amitabh Bacchan, 1980), Yeh Jawaani Hai Diwanee (Deepika Padukone, 2013), culminating in the drug related controversies of Sushant Singh Rajput and Aryan Khan. As the author observes, we have a Janus faced attitude to cannabis- we both worship and villainise it, there's a thin line between spirituality and sin! 

Madhok also gives us a thumb-nail account of the history and geographical spread of cannabis, beginning with Columbus arriving in America wearing a hemp jacket! We learn that more than fifty nations have legalised or decriminalised the plant for medicinal and industrial purposes, and are reaping the benefits in terms of revenue, tourism, reduced alcohol consumption, employment and treatment of various chronic diseases. There is a huge global market for hemp products ranging from textiles, furnishings, construction materials to ropes, paints and plastic substitutes. India is not even a player in this market, with its share of the global trade at just 0.0002%. He cautions that if we do not quickly revise our NDPS centered policy on cannabis we shall miss this bus completely. Small beginnings have been made- there are about one hundred start-ups in areas such as ayurvedic medicines, wellness centers, restaurants, textiles etc.- but this is not even scratching the surface of the vast potential that this, our very own Indian plant, offers. 

The author's final message? That it is time to reclaim the cultural, religious and medicinal heritage of cannabis as our own, before it is expropriated by other countries. We have to look back to look forward, he says. But is anyone listening? 

LAST BUS TO MANDI

 

LAST BUS TO MANDI.

   Most people would would be surprised to learn that Himachal's most iconic symbols are neither Preity Zingta nor Kangana Ranaut, it is the HRTC (Himachal Road Transport Corporation) bus- green and white in colour when the money for a paint job is available, a muddy ochre  when it is not; battered and dented, baskets of fruits , vegetables and a few drunken Rohru types perched on the roof; a goat or two ruminating on the back seats. Nothing represents Himachal better than a fully loaded HRTC bus, clawing its suicidal way up mountain roads that have no reason to be there, one rear wheel on the road, the other off it, mocking the sheer abyss below it. This humble bus has kept the state connected since long before the roads were taken over by the private cars, SUVs and taxis; it has been the lifeline for Himachal's commerce, tourism, agriculture, and has given the state a sense of collective identity.

   Its drivers are iconic figures themselves, role models for every village youth and even Mr. Modi's chaiwallahs, pakoda wallahs, chowkidars and "panna pramukhs" have not been able to displace them. They are the counterparts of the gunslingers of the American wild west- a rough breed with their own distinct language and culture, risking their lives daily on roads that defy the accepted laws of gravity, physics and engineering. Every second rural teen aspires to become an HRTC driver. On rural routes, where the buses have to park at night at the terminal point of their route, villagers vie with each other to offer board and lodging (free of course) to the driver, for he is their vital life line to the modern world and markets outside.  Relatively well travelled and widely respected, he is also a potent opinion maker, especially when it comes to elections!

   My first experience with the HRTC occured in 1977 when I had to take my brand new bride to Mandi where I was undergoing my IAS training. In those pre-Gadkari days there were only two services to Mandi, one during the day and one overnight. On a cold February night, therefore, Neerja and I boarded the night bus to Mandi at Kashmiri Gate (an ordinary one, there were no AC or deluxe buses then). As an IAS probationer I was allotted the favoured seats just behind the driver. The bus was overcrowded and smelt of Himachal- garlic, angoori, sheep (everybody was wearing the "pattu" coats) and the vapours released by sturdy tribals who had dined well, if not wisely. Fresh out of Lady Shri Ram, Neerja was adorned in tight jeans, jacket and boots; the driver took an instant liking to her and invited her to sit next to him on the hot engine cover. She declined, not wishing to become the toast of the evening. The journey took all of ten bone-breaking hours, we lost most of our luggage (kept on the roof) on the steep climb from Kiratpur to Swarghat. and the bus broke down twice, coincidentally at "desi sharab ka thekas" where the driver would disappear for half an hour and reappear saying he had fixed the fuel pipe! I am happy to report that our marriage survived this first test, and every trial and travail since then has been a cakewalk in comparison.

   In subsequent years one got to travel quite a lot in HRTC buses, because back then it was the fortunate SDM (Sub-divisional Magistrate) who got a Jeep to himself. I as SDM Chamba had to share one with the SDM Dalhousie, my good friend C. Balakrishnan, who in later years managed the impossible feat of retiring as Secretary Coal in the central government without getting charge-sheeted or imprisoned. I toured extensively by bus in Churah, Tissa, Salooni and Bharmour, some of the most undeveloped areas of the state, and developed a healthy respect for HRTC and its staff.

   In the late eighties I was appointed as Managing Director of this creaking behemoth, with 1200 buses and 7000 staff. And here I learnt of some endearing tricks they kept up their sleeve. Leaking of revenues (pocketing the fare instead of issuing tickets) is an existential problem for all state transport undertakings. We used to set up "nakas" everywhere at all hours of the day and night to nab the rascals but rarely succeeded in netting anyone after the first catch. I soon discovered that these chaps had perfected a wireless form of communicating with other buses to warn them of the checkpoints. Remember, this was decades before the advent of the cell phone. They had a system of coded signals which was flashed to all other buses "en passant", as it were, warning them of the impending check post. We rarely caught any fish after the first one.

   There were no private buses in those pre- liberalisation days and HRTC functioned as a monopoly. This gave their unions enormous power, and they flexed their muscles every six months by going on a strike just for the heck of it. We just had to grin and bear it, for confronting them was out of the question. The officers were accustomed to the tried and tested SOP- we were all locked up in our rooms in the head office, sans food or water, gheraoed in proper Labour Day style till we signed on the dotted line. I decided to develop an SOP of my own the day before the next strike. I rang up an old friend, AK Puri who was the DIG (Police) Shimla,  reminded him of our good old days in Bilaspur (AK was the Superintendent of Police there when I was the Deputy Commissioner), and expressed the hope that he would like to see me in one piece after the next day's strike. AK responded like a champion : the next day the HRTC office was flooded with more policemen than are currently on spiritual duty in the Kumbh mela. The gherao was rendered "non est", the unions decided they didn't have a grievance after all, and I had no more strikes for the duration of my tenure- cut short, sadly, by a Minister who was miffed by the fact that I didn't see (say?) "Aye to Aye" with him!

   There were no hard feelings, however. Almost twenty years later a tree fell on me while I was taking my dog for a walk in a snowstorm. I busted three spinal vertebras, two ribs and punctured a lung and spleen for good measure. I was laid up in hospital for three months and the doctors told me I would probably never walk again without crutches. While I was absorbing all this a group of HRTC drivers came to see me. They told me of a "vaid" in Mandi who fixed broken bones (even vertebras) with a concoction made out of herbs and roots which had to be taken four times a day with ghee and honey. They assured me that it would have me on my feet again in two months. On my expressing some well founded scepticism they told me something which made a lot of sense.

" Look, sir, we are breaking our bones all the time in some bus accident or the other. We don't go to any hospital, we go to this vaid, and he has cured each and every one of us. We all speak from personal experience. Please give him a try- you are already flat on your back, you can't get any lower than that, can you?"

Since this rhetorical question was one which even Mr. Subramaniam Swamy would have found difficult to answer, I agreed. Every week one of these good samaritans would bring me a fresh batch of the unctuous, foul smelling concoction, with some of the precious "shilajit" as an added kick. I banished the doctors and surgeons to their autopsy rooms and within three months I was playing golf again, even though my swing is not what it used to be- earlier I used to move the ball, now I move more of terra firma. A couple of years later I retired from service with most of my spine intact, no mean achievement for a bureaucrat, if I say so myself ! All because of a bunch of ne'er do wells who remembered an MD who had out-smarted them at their own game twenty years ago.

   It's been a long association with HRTC and I've gained far more from it than I have given. And it all started with a night bus for Mandi forty eight years ago.  

BOOK REVIEW: EMERGENCY AND NEO - EMERGENCY by MG DEVASAHAYAM

                                       

                                     

                                                     THE STRUGGLE TO REMEMBER

 Milan Kundera, the Czech-French novelist once said: "The struggle of Man against Power is the struggle of memory against forgetting." Devashayam's book is a brave attempt to ensure that this lesson is not forgotten in these days of tampering with history by all political parties and an effete media. Indira Gandhi declared the internal Emergency in June 1975, and two generations have since been born and grown to maturity in India; they have the right to know what transpired in that year and the days leading up to it, without misinterpretations, redactions or deletions. But that is only half the book, the other half is a documentation of the undeclared Neo- Emergency since 2014, leaving the reader to wonder (as intended by the author, no doubt): is there any difference between the two? In between are chapters on what is a central pillar of the book, the venerable Jaiprakash Narayan (JP), the "moral heir of Mahatma Gandhi" and arguably the final trigger for the imposition of Emergency by a rattled Mrs. Gandhi.

Devasahayam, as the legal custodian of JP by virtue of being the District Magistrate of Chandigarh where the latter was imprisoned in a hospital, had a ringside view of events in those troubled  days. Not only did he spend countless hours with JP as "the son he never had" and gained his total trust and confidence, he was also in constant touch with key players in Delhi and privy to the goings-on. What comes out very strongly in this narration is his total empathy for the septuagenarian freedom fighter; while he had grave misgivings about the course of events Mrs. Gandhi had launched the nation on, yet he performed his duty to his government faithfully- a blend of fealty to the Constitution, conscience and humanism that is so rare these days (and was perhaps so even then, considering how all officialdom caved in so meekly then).

Recounting the career of JP in great detail, Devashayam's admiration and respect for him, his moral fervour and integrity, comes through clearly, but he holds JP responsible for legitimising the RSS by inducting it into his movement of "Total Revolution", and for forcing Mrs. Gandhi's hand by his intransigence and refusal to compromise: in the author's words: "Both JP and Indira Gandhi failed democracy and betrayed their lack of faith in the rule of law." His concern for JP's deteriorating health in captivity made him an indefatigable interlocutor between JP and the powers in Delhi, an effort which finally succeeded on the 15th November, 1975, with his release by a panicked Delhi.

The book provides a lot of insights into the events leading up to the proclamation of Emergency on the night of 25th June 1975, something which caught by surprise the entire Cabinet, the Defence forces and the state administrations; the midnight arrests, the blanking out of the media. But he also addresses some of the questions that have bedeviled us for 50 years: would Mrs. Gandhi have resigned after the Allahabad High Court set aside her election on 12th June 2025 if Sanjay Gandhi had not intervened? Did the Opposition and JP force her hand by their rallies and demand for her resignation even though the Supreme Court had allowed her to continue as PM (though without voting powers in Parliament)? Was the Allahabad High Court judgment the only trigger for the Emergency or did the Nav Nirman Andolan in Gujarat, the Railway strike led by George Fernandes, the Samoorna Kranti Andolan of JP also contribute to it? Was there any evidence to support the ostensible reason for invoking Article 352, viz. that law and order had broken down throughout the country?  Were the arrests of more than 100,000 people her work or that of the coterie led by her son? Was this same coterie responsible for causing JP's health problems and for blocking any reconciliation between him and the Prime Minister? Why were no serious efforts made by the Janata government to determine how JP's kidneys were allowed to fail during his imprisonment at PGI Chandigarh, condemning him to a certain death? Why is the original letter from Mrs Gandhi to the President recommending the imposition of Emergency not available in the official records? Devasahayam provides all the known (and some unknown) facts and leaves the reader to decide for himself.

Mrs. Gandhi, probably inspired by faulty intelligence reports, called for fresh elections which were held in March 1977, and was roundly defeated by the newly formed Janata Dal, helmed by the still fighting-fit septuagenarian leader. It didn't last, of course, torn apart by its own internal and ideological contradictions and machinations by the Jana Sangh. But it set the stage for the rise of the BJP. For all his veneration and deep, even personal, regard for JP, however, Devasahayam states that JP's biggest "blunder" was coopting the Jana Sangh and the RSS into his movement, giving them the launching pad for grabbing power. He concedes that JP had sound reasons for entering into this "Devil's bargain" with the Jana Sangh- the need for their organised cadres, the fact that the Communists, Socialists and people like Vinobha Bhave sided with Mrs. Gandhi, the South's indifference to the excesses of the Emergency since it was hardly evident there. In addition, top leaders of the Jana Sangh and RSS- Advani, Balasaheb Deoras, Vajpayee- had all given him assurances that they would give up communal politics, that the Jana Sangh would merge with the Janata Party and give up its links with the RSS. They reneged on all of them, and as a consequence have now captured absolute power in the country. The leader of India's "second freedom struggle" died of a "broken heart" on 8th October, 1979.

The latter half of the book covers more familiar territory for most of us- the post 2014 period, what Devashayam terms the Neo -Emergency. He feels- and many would agree with him- that Modi's undeclared emergency is much more dangerous for the nation than the 18 month Emergency of Mrs Gandhi; in his words: " the present Neo-Emergency processes are far more insidious and systemic and are likely to undermine our collective being as a society for a long time to come." With brutal honesty and objective arguments, he goes on to validate his assertion by listing out the BJP's "achievements" during this period, dissects their exaggerated claims with a scalpel and pulverises them with a sledge hammer: - Demonetisation ("a state sponsored money laundering operation of gigantic proportions"); the Covid lockdown which knocked 4% off the country's GDP, collapsed 650000 SMEs and rendered 45 million migrant labour jobless; the CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) along with NPR (National Population Register) and NRC (National Register of Citizens)-all part of the process of making India a Hindu Rashtra; the new Criminal Laws (designed "to reduce the people of India from 'citizens' to 'subjects'). Each and every assertion is backed up by data, analysis, reports and the government's statements, and is difficult to repudiate.

Chapter 18  ("Emasculating Institutions of Democratic Governance") is a must-read, it is written with a lot of passion and based on meticulous research. Devasahayam spares no office in demonstrating how all constitutional institutions intended to protect democracy have been defenestrated and weaponised since 2014, how they are now like an auto-immune disease, consuming the very body they were supposed to defend. He spares no office- Parliament, the President, the Civil services, Union Public Service Commission, CAG, NHRC, Minorities Commission, Central Information Commission, SEBI, the PMO. He details the hounding of NGOs, the terrorising of civil society by reproducing parts of actual case studies of three prominent NGOs. True to his efforts to clean the Augean stables of electoral processes, the author devotes a whole chapter to the Election Commission of India, terming it "partisan and prejudiced" and asserting that it has "abdicated its constitutional role" and "has lost control of the elections. "This Neo-Emergency, according to the author, is replacing our democracy with "a system of top-down kleptocracy/kakistocracy". Mrs. Gandhi's Emergency was not even a trailer compared to what is happening now.

To conclude, this is a book which had to be written, but there are not many left in this country who have the scholarship, conviction and courage to write one. The book is a cry of pain by someone who has spent all his adult life in the service of the nation, first in the army, then in the civil services and now as an active member of civil society. It is a plea to remember the past, worry about the present, and act boldly for the future. History rarely offers a second chance.

IF NOT MY WIFE, WHOSE WIFE SHOULD I STARE AT, SIR ?

                                  

So another Sisyphus has surfaced on our corporate horizon, putting his shoulder to the boulder of "nation building". The Chairman of L+T (Larsen and Toubro), a one lakh crore multi-national behemoth, not satiated with the Rs. 51 crore he brings home every year (which is 540 times what his average employee subsists on), wants his serfs to work harder so that he can amass even more and quickly move on to some other country before that same boulder crushes him. Mr. Narayan Murthy of Infosys fame wanted a 70 hour week, Mr. Subhramanyan has upped it to 90 hours, all striving for that 18 hours-per-day jackpot which the Prime Minister himself has set as a bar. All this would be absurdly funny if it did not indicate a deep sickness in our society, specifically the captains of our industry and polity (with a few laudable exceptions).

Sometime back I had termed these individuals as representatives of the new East India Company that now rules this sorry nation, exploitative slave- drivers and profit seekers to the core (India's New Colonisers and the new East India Company, June 3, 2023), and I am saddened to see myself being vindicated every day by both industry and the government. For what is going on under the garb of "nation building" is nothing but personal fortune building in one case, and power consolidation in the other. The new corporate template is "Make in India, Park it abroad." This consists of various strands. The first is to extract more of the honest tax payers' moneys by way of subsidies, incentives (PLI) and tax waivers (Corporate Income Tax now contributes less to direct taxes than Personal Income Tax-a first in our history). The second is to bleed the average employee and amass fortunes for the promoters and top honchos. (Corporate profits have increased by 300% in the last ten years while worker salaries, in real terms, have gone down by 1% each year between 2012 and 2022, according to a report by the International Labour Organisation and the Institute for Human Development). And this even though Indian worker salaries are the twelfth lowest in the world (and would be even lower if the inflation-indexed government employees' salaries are taken out of the equation)! The third strand is to pocket these profits and decamp to fairer climes abroad: according to the Henley Wealth Migration report 2024, 5100 dollar millionaires left India in 2023 and the expected number for 2024 is 4300. A pretty good recipe, if you ask me, for ignoring your own wife and staring at other people's wives in Davos or Biarritz or the UAE.                                                                                                                                                                        There is no empathy for the worker (whether in the organised, informal, gig, or self employed sectors), the farmer, the students, the MNREGA labour, the unemployed, or the hundreds of millions living below the poverty line (whose numbers have grown since 2014, according to independent economists). They are mere fodder to serve corporate interests or dutifully cast their votes in elections which are rigged. We continue to be one of the worst performing countries in the world in the Inequality Index (rank 127 out of 193 countries, below even Bangladesh and Nepal), and the Inequality Lab has stated that inequality in India today is worse than it was during British rule. So when people like our Finance or Commerce Ministers, or Mr. Adani, or Mr. Gadkari or Mr. Subhramanyan are held up as exemplars and role models by the INDIA TODAY type of Conclaves, and when they spout their version of what is good for this country's citizens,it is time to be worried at the sickness which is coursing rapidly through the veins of our nation. One is reminded of the words of Hannah Arendt, the German-American philosopher :

The death of human empathy is one of the earliest and most telling signs of a culture about to fall into barbarism.

These robber barons of the 21st century are merely following in the footsteps of the Indigo planters and the cotton and tobacco planters of 18th century America. They have taken their cue from a government which is equally unscrupulous and venal when it comes to dealing with labour, employees and the middle classes: MNREGA budgets are slashed, lakhs are deprived of their rations because of Aadhar glitches and mis-matches, bank accounts are frozen due to the pestilence of frequent KYCs, provisions of the Shops Act and Factories Act regulating work hours and overtime are never enforced, "outsourcing" is cheaper than hiring regular employees, there is no law yet to protect the expanding legions of gig workers. This only encourages gentlemen of the Subrahmanyan, Bhavish Agarwal (OLA), Aadit Palicha (Zepto) variety to introduce a new economic feudal culture in our work places.

I do hope that the likes of Mr. Subhramanyan are among the 4300 millionaires planning to quit India in 2024, for we can do without their culture of insensitivity, exploitation and crass profiteering in a society that is already becoming vicious and brutal under the nudging of government policies. He may have redeemed himself somewhat by implicitly exhorting his workers to stare at other people's wives instead of their own, but that is cold comfort when you suddenly realise that someone else is staring at YOUR wife. Perhaps the best denouement to his thesis, as some wag on social media suggested, is to merge Infosys and Larsen and Toubro, and to encourage their employees to marry each other: they could then live in the office itself, and occasionally bump into each other during the prescribed toilet breaks. Leaving us retired blokes to peer at the neighbour's wife through our bifocals. As for me, I've been staring at Neerja for 47 years but she doesn't bat an eyelid. My sons say that I am old fashioned: instead of staring, I should Blinkit: satisfaction guaranteed in ten minutes!